Matt and Dick had listened to all this with deep interest. What most impressed them was the courage and determination shown by Helen Brady. Matt reached out and clasped her hand.
"You saved my life and Dick's," said he, with feeling, "and that is something we'll never forget."
"Not if we live to be a thousand years old!" declared Ferral. "You're a brave lass, Miss Brady, and I've an uncle who won't forget what you've done, either."
"I only did what I thought I ought to do," said Helen. "It was merely undoing a wrong of my father's, and it was no more than right that I should do what I could."
"Ach, Matt," piped up Carl, "aber you vas blaying in some hardt luck! Und shdill, mit all dot, vasn't it pooty fine dot you got oudt oof dot tight blace mit your life, you und Tick?"
"Right-o, matey!" agreed Ferral heartily. "Matt and I, between us, have lost the Hawk, which means thirty-five hundred, in cold cash, but, all the same, we ought to shake hands over it and call ourselves well off."
Matt grabbed Dick's hand.
"Shake!" said he. "A fellow never has such a run of hard luck but he can think a little and see where it might have been a whole lot worse."
A puzzled look had come into Helen's face.
"How was it, Matt," she queried, "that you and your friend lost so much money?"